Politically Speaking: State Rep. Chuck Basye On How Mid-Missouri Fared During The 2019 Session

State Rep. Chuck Basye is the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast. The Rocheport Republican talked with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about some of his accomplishments during the 2019 session — and some agenda items that remain unfinished.

Basye represents portions of Boone, Howard, Cooper and Randolph counties in the Missouri House. He was first elected to the General Assembly’s lower chamber in 2014.

Basye is a Marine Corps veteran who spent roughly 30 years as an air traffic controller. The St. Charles County native also was the president of the Columbia Pachyderm Club, which often hosts lunches featuring prominent political figures.

Basye entered the electoral arena in 2014 when he challenged Democratic Rep. John Wright. Wright spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money in 2012 to win the 47th House District, which includes counties that are historically Democratic.

In one of the closer results of the 2014 election cycle, Basye ended up defeating Wright by less than 200 votes. He’s since won re-election in 2016 and 2018.

Basye is the chairman of the House Veterans Committee — and the vice chairman of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee. He is planning to run for House majority leader along with a number of others, including Reps. Dean Plocher, R-Town and Country, and David Gregory, R-Sunset Hills.

Here’s what Basye had to say during the show:

Basye talked about legislation aimed at getting additional developmental disorders added to Missouri’s autism insurance mandate. He says this bill, which Gov. Mike Parson signed into law on Thursday, will make treatments much more affordable to Missourians.

He also discussed a measure that sets a later start date for public schools across the state. That move could help tourism throughout Missouri, but it’s sparked opposition among some school administrators.

One of the big accomplishments of the Missouri General Assembly this year was passing a bonding plan for bridges. Much of the plan is predicated on getting funding to replace the Rocheport Bridge on Interstate 70, which Basye said is a major priority for mid-Missouri.

Basye discussed why parts of mid-Missouri have become more hospitable to Republicans over the past few election cycles. Some of the counties that Basye represents, including Boone and Howard, are traditional Democratic strongholds that have gravitated toward the GOP in recent years.

On a special edition of Politically Speaking, St. Louis Public Radio links up with KCUR’s Statehouse Blend to review the ins and outs of the 2019 session of the Missouri General Assembly.

St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Rachel Lippmann joined KCUR’s Samuel King and Brian Ellison to talk about the final week of the legislative session. That’s when the Legislature sent abortion restrictions to Gov. Mike Parson.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 11, 2009 - The St. Louis area will get $9 million for three more road projects under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (economic stimulus package) than the Missouri Department of Transportation originally announced. But some area leaders are saying that's still not enough.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 4, 2009 - CNN has captured St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay going ballistic over the Missouri Department of Transportion's decision to spend only a fraction of the stimulus infrastructure money in St. Louis.

Slay asserts on camera that the state is "breaking the law'' by directing much of that construction money to outstate Missouri, where fewer people live and drive.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 4, 2009 - The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission today approved 32 road resurfacing projects, mostly in rural areas, that will be funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – commonly called the economic stimulus package.

Projects for the St. Louis area were noticeably missing from the commission’s monthly agenda of action items, much to the surprise of some St. Louis area officials.

Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh returns to Politically Speaking to talk with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about Gov. Mike Parson’s first year in office, as well as the lay of the land for organized labor.

The Bellefontaine Neighbors Democrat represents Missouri’s 13th Senatorial District, which takes in a portion of north St. Louis County. Walsh will leave the Senate after 2020 because of term limits, completing a 16-year legislative tenure that began in the early 2000s.